Men's Track & Field

Schreck Earns All-America Honors on Day One of NCAA Championships

Junior Benjamin Schreck

May 22, 2014

DELAWARE, Ohio – Day one of competition at the NCAA Men's and Women's Division III Track and Field Championships got underway on Thursday at Ohio Wesleyan University. Tech's 11th ranked men's track and field team had an extremely successful opening day earning All-America honors in one event and setting themselves up for continued success on days two and three of competition. After one day, Tech is currently in tied for 18th place with three points.

Earning those team points and claiming All-America accolades with a sixth place finish in the pole vault, junior Benjamin Schreck (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) cleared 16-00.75. This marks a new personal record for Schreck and sits fifth on Tech's Top-Ten performers list. Schreck entered the event seeded 18th but was determined to return to the podium after finishing eighth and earning All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.

Competing in the first five events of the decathlon, sophomore Adrian Samsel (Whippany, N.J.) finished third in the first event, the 100-meter dash. Samsel's time of 11.04 is a personal best and ties the ninth fastest 100-meter dash in Tech's history. In the second event, the long jump, Samsel finished ninth clearing 21-00.50 to earn 677 points.

Next up, Samsel added 557 points to his decathlon total with a 13th place finish in the shot put. Throwing for 36-08.50, this performance is nearly eight inches further than Samsel's previous personal best recorded at the New England Division III Championships. In the high jump, he cleared 6-00.50, tying his best performance from this season and finishing in a four-way tie for 12th place.

Crossing the line in first place, Samsel finished the 400-meter run in 49.25, narrowly edging out the second place finisher by just 0.03 seconds. This performance was another personal best for Samsel, more than half a second faster than his previous best. After day one of the decathlon, Samsel is sitting in fourth place with 3596 points.

Tech's third individual competitor on Thursday, junior Ken Cooper (Newport Beach, Calif.) competed in the first of his three events for the weekend, finishing 20th in the hammer throw with a final distance of 165-07.

MIT will return to action tomorrow with individual competition by Samsel in the decathlon, Cooper in the shot put, Lee in the 400-meter run, and Hunter in the 800-meter run. Competition gets underway at 1:00 pm.